


Color Theory

by quantum27



Series: flynn has friends (or self indulgent non-legacy au with original encom crew) [7]
Category: Tron (Movies), Tron - All Media Types
Genre: (kicks a somewhat important part of canon down a cliff), Blood, Car Accidents, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Summaries, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, idk if i need more tags whoops, once again this is a uhhh lightcycle crash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28473216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantum27/pseuds/quantum27
Summary: A lightcycle race goes wrong and leaves our favorite programs (and User!) in a bit of a...situation...let's leave the summary at that.
Series: flynn has friends (or self indulgent non-legacy au with original encom crew) [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1866916
Comments: 16
Kudos: 16





	Color Theory

**Author's Note:**

> first published fic of 2021, i guess.

Yori looked up from her datapad just in time to see Ram’s disk bouncing off the new shield for _Disk Wars_ that Flynn had finally put in place. 

The shield was a cool semi-transparent blue, forming a perfect circle, around 25 paces in diameter. Each time a disk hit it, a light blue ripple followed the impact. It held steady as well, and by having it be in a circle and it’s height be so tall, no disk ricochets even had a chance of hitting the side of HQ. 

“HA! I almost had you there!” Ram called out joyfully to his sparring partner. 

“ _Almost._ Not quite, my friend.” Tron’s voice was smug as he held his disk in a ready position. 

Yori rolled her eyes in amusement as her counterpart threw his disk. They could be so silly sometimes. 

Beside her, Clu made a miffed noise. He hadn’t quite been as into this little project as everyone else had been. He’d objected to the use of disks as weapons in general, and the fact they were playing a game with them seemed almost unimaginable to him. She found the fact a little bit funny, the way he would get a little riled up about it, looking like he’d just gotten bitten by a grid bug. 

To her right, Flynn grinned wide, leaning against the wall of HQ, arms crossed, his data pad already derezzed by now. They’d been testing the shield for quite some time, (Flynn had even taken a turn at a game before quickly giving up. Clu had refused flatly. Yori was more apt to just watch the free entertainment,), and had long since gotten the data they’d needed. The shield worked as it should. That being said, Ram and Tron hadn’t stopped yet. It’d been at least three centicycles. _Three_. 

She was pulled from her thoughts as Flynn shot up from the wall. 

“Did Tron just do a Flip? He can do Flips?? I didn’t know he could do Flips??? Since when Can He- Did you know about this?” He pointed back and forth between the shield and them. 

Yori only shook her head in amusement. As far as she was concerned, Tron could do anything he aspired to. 

“Yes.” Clu answered, “Turns out the tripwires worked out for only so long. Which is a shame. It was a little fun seeing him fall.” 

Flynn only gaped at him, before turning his head back to the shield, “Why doesn't he do them more often, then?” 

“Dramatic effect.” Yori said. 

“Yeah, dramatic effect.” He repeated, a light tinge of pink spreading over his circuits before muttering, “ _And now I’m gonna picture him in business casual doing it too._ ” 

Not knowing exactly what a ‘business casual’ was, she didn’t respond, already resolving to see if she could discover if that was just a Flynn-phrase or a proper User-phrase later. 

“Dramatic effect won’t matter if they get themselves killed in what's supposed to be a game.” Clu huffed. 

Yori found herself smiling, an idea popping up in response to the statement, “What about armor?” 

“Lightsuits are armor. And don’t they already have upgraded ones as well?” Clu questioned. His own lightsuit was rather limited to his helmet, gauntlets and kneepads. Yori’s wasn’t exactly coded for fights, but she could rezz in a helmet. And Flynn was still stuck in a _Game Grid_ novice tunic. Compared to the rest of them, Ram and Tron were ‘heavily’ armored. 

“No she has a point. Could also put a limiter on their disks for the amount of power they could use, just in case they did overpower them- Plus an extra layer of armor-” Flynn rerezzed his datapad with a flourish, fingers primed for typing, “You’re brilliant, Yori. Brilliant.” 

“I know.” She replied, half-teasing, half-serious. Then she cocked her head to the side, watching as he typed. He was writing it down for Later. Not now. 

“You could try and code it up right now.” She suggested. 

Flynn froze, “And that turned out so well last time, ha.” 

“It was just a disk in the wall. You need to practice here, Flynn.” She’d been bugging him about it as much as she possibly could. 

They both knew this. It wasn’t some sort of grand secret. Flynn did need to practice using his User Powers. Anytime he did use them seemed to be unintentional, and Yori would be lying if she said it didn’t drive her crazy. There was so much potential there. And he was wasting it. After all, what was the point of coming here if he wasn’t going to use it to his advantage? (She knew the point, she knew it was because he liked them as friends, maybe even family but-)

Luckily her projects to help him practice using his User powers were almost complete. With a little help from Clu they were coming along nicely. The most important detail she’d learned from the hacker had to have been the fact that Flynn would become easily frustrated if things weren’t going to plan. It seemed the User felt that he should just be able to do things perfectly, and he’d get frustrated when that didn’t happen. 

And it seemed the initial building of the _Disk Wars_ shield had gotten him into a stubborn rut of not wanting to do it. Whether he knew it or not, he’d started avoiding the subject.

“Look I’ll get around to it- If their game ever ends.” He extended a hand to said game. 

“I don’t think it’ll ever end at this point.” Clu said flatly. 

She frowned at the tone, and then after a pause said, “I’ve got a proposal.”

Two almost perfect mirrors of curiosity turned to her. “Why don’t you drag them out of their game and go lightcycle racing instead, and I’ll get all this data we took and do an overview of it, hm?” 

Clu perked up, “It has been a little while since we went out for a drive.” 

Flynn smirked, rubbing his jaw with one hand, “ _If_ we can get them away from their game.” 

Yori, put her datapad under one arm and then cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Tron!” 

The security program paused in his game, and looked immediately toward her. He was then knocked down in a tackle by Ram. 

“That! That’s isn’t how this- Haha! _Ram-_ ” He spluttered. 

Ram grinned, and tapped him on the forehead, Tron’s helmet’s circuits flashing in response to the touch, “No rules, games over, it’s lightcycle time, my friend!” 

“It’s what-?” 

“See, now you were too deep in the game to hear your counterpart say we should go do some lightcycle stuff-” 

Tron pushed Ram off, shaking his head, looking up to Yori, “Sorry, I was busy.” 

“It’s alright. Didn’t expect either of you to hear us.” 

Ram jumped up from the ground, rezzing in his lightcycle baton, “I’m always listening.” 

“That’s not ominous at all.” Flynn blinked. 

“Don’t worry. It’s a joke.” Ram paused as he was deactivating the shield, “Probably.” 

“That’s worse.” Flynn replied with a half-wheeze. 

Ram just winked, walking over to them to stand by Clu. 

“Did you-?” Clu murmured under his breath.

“Yeah!” Ram excitedly whispered; probably louder than intended. 

“Now we wait and hope we actually get to see it.” Clu grinned with his teeth.

Yori pointedly ignored the interaction. Whatever it was they were doing was probably not going to harm anyone; hopefully. 

Tron finally made his way over to them with a light jog, throwing a look over his shoulder back to where the lines of the now deactivated shield would be. 

“Taking a ride with our ‘cycles, huh?” His eyes sparkled, “There is this canyon I’ve been meaning to take a ride through-” The glimmer in his eyes dimmed, “Just wasn’t a good time for it.” 

“Don’t sweat it, man,” Flynn clapped him on the shoulder, a reassuring smile donning his face, “Work gets in the way of stuff all the time.” 

Tron didn’t quite smile back, but his eyes crinkled at the edges. 

“Well.” Ram clapped his hands together, rolling the baton between them, “Who’s _rrrr_ rready to rock and roll?” 

* * *

The canyons were ever winding, and they were the perfect size for about four lightcycles a good portion of the time, occasionally tapering down to the point only a cycle or two could squeeze through. It led to some interesting dynamics between the group. 

Learning the specific dynamics of each person had been something that Tron had prided himself on doing. It was important to know his teammate’s behavior in every possible circumstance, whether simple lightcycle racing or...something worse.

Tron himself was rather straightforward with his driving, but always ready to pull out a trick at the last minute. It kept other programs on their toes, expecting one thing only to receive another. 

Ram’s driving often depended on the others driving around him. He was quite adaptable. He was able to match any of their styles; Tron had seen enough of it in _The Game Grid_ to know. It had also led to plenty of Red’s deaths as well. 

Flynn’s driving was...well it certainly was something. The most accurate description would be that it was ‘Flynn-ish’. More than a little chaotic, cobbled together with fool-hardy, sometimes even _genius_ decisions. It was. Certainly Something. 

Clu’s driving was very. Direct. Almost like a more streamlined version of Flynn’s. All his moves were very certain and solid, with an occasional dash of chaos thrown in.

This of course produced a pretty fun time in all retrospect. Each of them bobbing and weaving between each other in almost perfect motion. Somehow. 

It was just when Tron had pulled up to the front of the group when he noticed it. His scanning protocols were enhanced by the lightcycle, giving him a wider range than he would without being in one. 

It was a flying object of some kind. 

He didn’t catch exactly what it was, but “This is Tron- Slow down, I think there’s some kind of-” He was cut off by a second flying object- _a tank arrow-_ there were tanks up ahead- Users delete it- And- 

It all happened so fast he could barely process but the walls of the canyon were crumbling behind him, and all he could do was accelerate his lightcycle and shout “SCATTER! Get out of here- Now! Get-”

* * *

His lightcycle was already turning over on itself before he got a chance to finish his command.

Ram groaned as he sat up. He coughed a few times, dust from the fallen canyon walls was still thick and floating in the air.

And- _The Canyon Walls_. 

They had fallen so fast- Something had _shot_ at them. Tron had been right in front of him driving- Flynn had been all the way in the back-And Clu had been right next to them- They’d gone left- 

He sat up quickly. If Clu had gone the same direction as him- 

“Clu!?” He got up, stumbling, ready to cup hands around his mouth to shout, “Clu?!?” 

A low groan answered him, and he turned around to see the hacker sitting up from his own crash. 

“Present.” Clu coughed, raising a hand. He was a sight to behold. A fine blue dust covering his entire body (Though, Ram knew he wasn’t much better in that aspect,) and also giving his yellow circuits a green hue. 

“Great.” Ram huffed, putting his hands on his hips, “I’m very glad we’re not dead.” He paused, “Or at least. I’m hoping we’re not dead.” 

“I do not think we’re dead, considering this dust.” Clu said with a small frown, rubbing at the dust. His circuits still looked green from where he attempted to rub it off. 

Ram made a small noise of agreement, looking around them. The opening they’d come into was closed off now by rocks. And while it looked climbable, it didn’t look like a fun climb either. Their lightcycles were- Well, Ram’s was in pieces scattered across the canyon floor. It was a miracle he wasn’t dead. 

He looked down to his side, the part where the circuits curved differently than they had from before he’d died. It could always be worse, he could have had a chunk missing from him, _again._

“Hey, where’s your ‘cycle?” He asked, turning to Clu. There were bits of red and green cycle parts scattered around, but no yellow. 

Clu raised an eyebrow before looking at his hands. He rerezzed his baton. And it seemed fine until he moved his hands apart. The baton was cut straight in the middle, leaving individual pieces for each hand. 

“Oh. That’s not good.” 

“Hm.” He turned them over in his hands. The baton pieces sparked stubbornly. 

“Can you fix it?” Ram asked, feeling like he already knew the answer. 

“Perhaps... It’d take quite some time to fix it even if I could. Longer than a centicycle, that’s for sure.” He uselessly tapped the pieces against each other, before sighing and derezzing them. 

“Right.” Ram looked back to the rock barricade, and then further down the canyon tunnel. “Do you think it opens up over there? Or do you think it’s a deadend?” 

“Well, let me see.” Clu reached behind his back and undocked his disk, opening up a menu incredibly quickly to display a 3D map of the canyon. 

“You have a map of the system?” Ram asked in awe, walking over to him. 

“I do, yes. Might not be entirely accurate after all this-” He gestured around them. 

“Well. Let’s think of the bright side, at least.” 

“Yes. The brightside. We just got shot by tanks and we’ve gotta look on the brightside.” 

Ram froze, every line of code tensing up. “That’s what shot at us.” 

“Tank arrows.” Clu said flatly, “Believe me I can recognize them.” 

“Well, this is such a lovely microcycle, isn’t it.” Ram said sarcastically through a pained smile.

“My circuits are green.” Clu muttered mournfully to himself. 

“I don’t think green looks too bad on you.” Ram raised his eyebrows, and brushed some of the dust off of Clu’s helmet, one of his circuits returned to a more yellow color with the motion. 

Clu squinted at the map, then glanced up at Ram, “Thanks.” 

The hacker then spun the 3D model around, before pointing to a spot. 

“We’re here.” He zoomed out on the map, “This part of the canyon shouldn’t be a deadend- It should open up over here-” He scrolled over, revealing an open space of flat plains. 

“Right, we weren’t that far to getting there.” Ram squinted at the plains on the map. There was a slight incline upwards before it flattened out. He pointed it out, “Do you think the tanks could’ve shot from there before we noticed them?” 

Clu sighed, then said shortly, “Yes.” 

He got rid of the map model with a swift motion before docking it, and stumbling up to stand.

“So, should we be going?” He asked, rubbing dust off his face. It only seemed to smear it more. 

Ram nodded, turning to the way the canyon led out of. 

* * *

Tron groaned as he leaned against the back of the rock. He’d been lucky, he knew that. Not too long ago, he might’ve thanked Alan_One. Now? He wasn’t so sure. Either way, he was lucky. 

The boulder had landed in front of him just as he was derezzing his cycle. It had rolled, yes, but somehow it had worked to his advantage. And yet again, he held his tongue to thank Alan_One. 

He drew his disk, and inched towards the edge of the boulder to peak around. 

They were too far away for his scans to reach; but there were two tanks at the top of a small hill. Two tanks that hadn’t moved yet. 

But _Why?_

His frown was set deep into his face, practically unmovable. The fact they had been shot at in the first place had to be pre-planned…

_MCP loyalists…_ They had to be. Tron had known about the possibility of them attacking for quite some time now. And the one microcycle he decides to have fun with friends? 

He sighed through gritted teeth. He was practically trapped in this situation. There was too much open space and not enough cover for him to move to. Right now, his best course of option was just staying here. Behind this boulder. Helpless.

He just had to wait it out. Either the Reds would come and check the rubble out, or one of his companions would come help. He just had to be patient. 

But patience was difficult when he had little to no information to go on. 

No information on whether his friends lived or not. 

He just had to hope. 

So, he held onto his disk tighter, and leaned against the bolder, his face unchanging. Whatever happened, he would be ready. 

* * *

Ram and Clu had been walking in pure silence for a good while now, only the sounds of their footsteps creating their own unique conversation. The actuary was actually starting to get a little worried. Clu was quiet, but never quite this quiet. The hacker’s circuits also occasionally flared before dying down again in inconsistent patterns. 

“Everything alright?” Ram finally asked, voice low and yet so very loud in the silence. 

Clu glanced at him, annoyance flickering in his eyes, his circuits leveling to an even level of light, “I was trying to contact Flynn.” 

“Oh- cause of your earpieces-?” 

“Yes. But _apparently_ the connection can only be started by him, not me. One-way ticket deal, apparently.” 

Ram frowned and crossed his arms, “That’s…”

“Just an example of him not thinking everything through? Yes.” Clu gave him a small rueful grin before his gaze darkened again, “It wouldn’t be that big of a deal, I suppose. But, I wanted to see if he was alright. Make sure he’s not...” 

Clu’s green-tinted circuits glowed dimmer with the statement, and Ram’s own circuits flickered in distress at the thought. The thought of Flynn being _dead?_ It wasn't pleasant in the slightest. 

“Well.” Ram half-sighed, “Don’t you think you would know?” 

Clu blinked, “Know what?” 

“If he was... _y’know_...I mean he’s your User.” He knew he was reaching. Who knew if the hacker would be able to tell whether or not if the User was alive or not. Still, if Clu wasn’t able to tell-?

“That could be a possibility.” Clu agreed, though somewhat half-heartedly, but then he looked him directly in the eyes, “Thank you, Ram.” 

Ram smiled, not entirely sure why the hacker was thanking him if he was being perfectly honest, “No problem.” 

“Still wish he’d had the thought of letting me be able to contact _him_ \- Then again, he is _Flynn_.” He shook his head. 

* * *

Lora swatted at Alan as he hovered over her shoulder, “I love you, but _enough._ ” 

He frowned, still not taking his eyes off the computer monitor. 

“We still don’t know what that- What that ‘blip’ was.” He took off his glasses, twirling them with an edge of frustration. 

The ‘blip’ had been a solid block of error text that had spazzed out for a solid thirty seconds before disappearing completely, as if it was never there in the first place. Suffice to say Alan was a bit freaked out by the whole ordeal. Particularly the ‘never there in the first place’ bit. On one hand, it was kinda cute he was so worried for Flynn, on the other, Lora was just as worried, even if she was trying to be reasonable. 

“Whatever it was, I’m sure Flynn is fine.” She turned back to the monitor, overviewing the data. “Tron, Ram, and Clu are all still running- there’s no evidence that Flynn isn’t as well.” 

“Still.” He shook his head, “I didn’t like whatever that even was.” 

“I know.” 

“There should be something left that shows it happened-”

“I know.” 

“Because, we didn’t hallucinate that, right?” 

“We did not hallucinate anything, Alan.” She turned in her chair, “Let’s not get in a panic over something that’s probably nothing.” 

Alan deflated like a balloon that had had one too many rounds with a group of children convinced they were playing volleyball. “You’re right.”

“For right now, we’re going to wait and watch. If it happens again then we’ll do something.” 

Alan nodded, and Lora sighed internally in relief, glad she wasn’t going to have to have a debate with him. Then again, he usually deferred to her in quite a few situations, and usually every single time if they were in the Laser Bay.

“Wait and watch.” Lora repeated to herself this time as she looked away from him and back to the screen, “Wait. And. Watch.” 

* * *

The others hadn’t come back from their lightcycle race yet, and Yori had long-since gotten done with her overview of the data, and yet- Perhaps it was foolish of her to be concerned. They could take care of themselves, after all. Or at least, they should’ve been able to take care of themselves. 

Of course, it was nice to have HQ to herself. But at the same time it wasn’t. HQ was _supposed_ to have more than one person in it. Or at least, not have one person for this long. 

Usually she never got _this_ worried. But. For some reason she just was. And until they got back she’d have no reassurance but to tell herself that everything was fine. 

* * *

The walk felt like it was never going to end. Ram had long since undocked his disk from his back just to fiddle with it, his hands anxious to do _something_ , anything. 

He sent yet another worried glance at Clu. He didn’t want to imagine what he would be like in this situation if it was his User in this situation. The unadulterated terror of Not Knowing. 

Ram shook his head, before his eyes drifted to Clu’s back. To his disk. The hacker had been adamant about his dislike about using disks as weapons. But in this situation- 

“Clu,” He hesitated when the program’s eyes locked with his, “You might have to use your disk- We don’t know what’s going to happen next and…” 

Clu raised his eyebrows before sticking his hand in the air. He flipped it over, a baton rezzing in with the motion. 

“Wait, you have a ‘cycle, why didn’t you-?” 

“It’s not a lightcycle. Though in the future, I have already decided that I will have plenty of spares ready in case something like this happens again.” He tutted to himself, a gentle scolding of this unforeseen error of judgement, “So, no it’s not a lightcycle baton it is a-”

He turned it only slightly before it extended a good amount, “It’s a staff.” 

“A staff.”

“Yes. Very good for hitting people over the head with.” There was a hint of a smile gracing his mouth. 

“Clu, I don’t mean to sound rude, but that’s a short range weapon, we’ll have to get close before it’s even possible for you to use it.”

“Then I’ll get close.” Clu replied stubbornly. 

Ram sighed, “You think that’s possible?”

“It’s absolutely possible, yes.” 

“And what if you die trying to get close-”

Clu smacked the staff against his other hand, a resounding sound echoing around the canyon from it. He stopped walking before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Ram frowned. 

He struggled for a moment trying to find something that would console him before uselessly settling on, “I’m sorry.”

Clu opened his eyes, “No, no it’s not your fault. The problem is-” His circuit lines dimmed, “The problem is that aside from my ever longstanding fear of. Of losing Myself by losing my disk- It’s also just that I’m absolutely useless with a disk. I'm not like you, I don’t have brilliant disk tricks and strategies. The only time I’ve ever derezzed someone with a disk-” His breath hitched, and his eyes fluttered closed for a moment before opening again, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t burden you with this.” 

Ram paused for a moment. And then he made up his mind. He reached for the hand that the hacker had smacked and took it gently in his own, moving to the otherside of him so he could properly hold it. 

The hacker was barely holding it together, emotions already streaming through the touch. It was obviously unintentional by the way it stuttered and stalled, each emotion rippling through Ram stronger than he could’ve imagined. _Hurt, Sadness, Curiosity, Anger-Frustration,_ and a sudden new one, _Confusion-Why this-_. 

Ram didn’t hesitate to send back to him a wave of _Friendship, Confidence, Togetherness, I know, Comfort_. 

Clu grasped his hand tighter as if it were a lifeline. Ram squeezed his hand in return as well. 

Then they started walking again, hand in hand, each holding their respective weapon in the other. 

“Y’know,” Ram eyed the staff, “I wonder if you could do any tricks with that- Or maybe combine it with a disk to do tricks with.”

Clu didn’t respond verbally but a strong wave of something similar to _Laughter_ did. 

* * *

“What. The. Hell.” 

Everything was feeling far worse than it had just a moment ago. Or had it been a moment ago? It was hard to tell. It might’ve been forever ago, and he still wouldn’t have been able to tell. 

Flynn rubbed at his eyes, before cursing himself silently as he only managed to rub dust into them. 

“This is the worst.” He muttered to himself, “What happened?” 

He looked around. Technicolor square shapes moved slowly across his plane of sight. And then he realized he was staring at the sky. System Clouds weren’t like User’s, afterall. 

“Oh. I’m on the ground. That’s great.” He slowly pushed himself up from the ground, a spell of dizziness following the motion. His hands gripped the ground, which was softer than he expected. He lifted his right hand up, watching as a fine blue sandy dust escaped his fingers. 

“This is really not Ideal.” He winced, finally looking around again properly. There were a lot of rocks. Rocks that were recently moved. Rocks that were Rubble. 

“Rocks.” He said aloud before clutching his head. He was lucky for the helmet. The stupid thing apparently _could_ come in handy. The likelihood of having a concussion was still high. That was alright, he could work with that. As long as he wasn’t hurt anywhere else. 

“Am I hurt anywhere else?” He asked absolutely no one. 

He looked down at himself and froze. Everything sharpened with a perfect clarity in that moment as he saw It. 

The wound was a perfect slash across from his left collarbone all the way down to the back of his elbow. This itself, wasn’t alarming. It didn’t look that deep, and the blood was already starting to clot. 

No. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was the blood itself. See, the thing is, blood is known for a few things. One of those things is the fact it’s. Red. 

His blood was not red. It was _purple_. 

Flynn raised his right hand, dabbing it a little at the oddly colored blood. Then he sighed, realizing he couldn’t properly feel it through the glove. He derezzed it with a quick shake of the hand before once again reaching out to touch it. 

The consistency was right. He brought it to his nose. It smelled like blood. Then he hesitated. There was something about lab safety he was going to ignore here, but the Scientific Method required for him to do this. Probably. He didn’t know, that was always Lora’s thing, not his. He dabbed a touch of it on his tongue. 

The taste was familiar; the metallic taste of iron that was normal for blood. And then it wasn’t quite so familiar. 

He sighed, his spit had already washed it away far too quickly, “Guess I’m a vampire now.” He muttered to himself before going back for seconds.

There was the metallic taste, one that was so distinctly _human_ and then there was...It was…

“ _Energy_ .” He whispered to himself. It was a startling realization, but it was true all the same. The taste was a little more sickly sweet than it usually was, but the aftertaste couldn’t be anything else. That certain, almost _electric_ taste was unable to be replicated. 

Which meant that the purple color…? 

“Great, great, I know my basic color theory.” He rolled his eyes, a tiny huff of a laugh escaping his lips. 

He went back to examining the wound, focusing on the arm itself since that was easiest to see. He hissed as he pressed against the skin, a new line of purple blood trailing down from it. 

“Shit. I thought it was clotting already- Then what is-?” 

He dabbed at the parts that he’d assumed were clotting, and then realized that while _yes_ it had clotted some, there was also _something else._

“Ugh, what is this?” 

It took a moment for his still cloudy mind to catch up but- _Pixels._

The program equivalent to blood or skin tissue. He had _pixels?_

“What is this.” He repeated, not sure what to do with the information.

Flynn then shook his head, “Bleeding out, that’s what this is, dammit, _Kevin._ ” 

He shifted; tearing off his tunic to make a makeshift bandage was easy, considering it had already been torn by whatever had injured him in the first place. Then he tried to derez the sleeve of his suit as much as he could, but winced as he did so, the skin not liking the change at all, with more lines of blood following the movement. 

And then he did what must have been the hundredth double-take he’d done in the short time he’d been awake. 

“You know what. Why should I be surprised at this point. Nothing makes sense. I’m in a computer- I _like_ being in a computer?? This shouldn’t be _that_ surprising. C’mon, Roll with the punches, Flynn.” He told himself, sounding like the Arcade was burning down and he was frantically reasoning with firefighters to let him in, because surely he could save _something_. 

Circuit Lines. He had Circuit Lines. 

Well, of course he had circuit lines- the ones on his suit anyway- but these were. _Skin circuit lines._ Just like a program’s...or at least. Reminiscent of a program’s. 

He’d only seen some of his friends’ skin circuit lines occasionally. And only _mostly_ by accident. They were just as bright as the light lines on their suits.

_His_ , on the other hand, were rather faint in comparison. It reminded him almost of a faded scar or stretch mark. Ones that _glowed_ . Faintly, yes. But still. _His skin was glowing._ If only a little. 

“Man. Wish I could talk to someone about this.” He said as he traced one of the lines. Something akin to a static shock buzzed along it, if only a little more pleasant, “Weird.” 

He started wrapping the wound as best as he could, but his thoughts drifted as he did it. He couldn’t talk to anyone, because no one was here. They couldn’t possibly be-

He tied off the makeshift bandage and then stumbled to his feet. 

“Tron!? Ram!?” His voice cracked as he raised it, and then coughed. The dust was not helping at all. 

Sighing, he muttered to himself, “Clu, I’d call out for you but I’m not sure my voice could take it.” 

He pinched the bridge of his nose. 

And then a high pitched whine echoed through his ears. 

He winced, hands flying to cover his ears, but it didn’t seem to help, almost like it was _inside_ his head. 

_“Flynn?”_

Flynn snapped his head up, glancing around wildly. That was his voice! Or. Rather, Clu’s voice. 

“Clu!! Where are you? I don’t see you.” 

An odd little hum of a laugh echoed, a small high pitched whine ever constant along with the noise. 

_“We’re communicating through our direct line, sir.”_

“Oh. Holy- Are you kidding?” Flynn huffed, “This is radical.” 

_“Yes it is. And entirely useful in this situation,”_ Clu’s voice shifted to being a touch annoyed, _“I’ve tried contacting you but it appears only you can start the connection.”_

“Well, I was out cold, man.” 

_“I didn’t say I stopped trying, sir.”_

Flynn went to run a hand through his hair, only bumping into his helmet instead, “Right. I’ll put that on the list of things I need to work on- Either way, where are you? Are you alright?” 

_“I’m fine. Ram is here with me, sir.”_

Flynn felt a wave of relief wash over him before a touch of nervousness overtook him, “And Tron?” 

There was a solid moment of silence, and he closed his eyes tight. Desperately hoping he wasn’t…

_“We don’t know. He wasn’t here with us, we were hoping he was with you.”_

Flynn looked around, hoping to see any sign of the security program. But there was nothing. Except- 

He looked to the large pile of rubble. Tron had been at the front of the line of lightcycles. He’d been at the back. There was a very good possibility that beyond the debry the security program was still alive and kicking. 

“Hold on a minute. I’m gonna try and see something.” 

He then began the awkward process of climbing the thing. It was difficult with his one arm being a little less mobile, and the combination of the sliding rocks and dust wasn’t good either. Finally he got to the top, huffing and puffing as he paused. 

Violet blood was already seeping through the makeshift bandage, he noted with some discomfort. The little climb had not helped that part of the situation in the slightest. 

He poked his head above to look out, scanning the horizon as best he could. And then he saw it. A far off boulder by itself. And a white shape. 

“I think I see him!” 

_“You do? Are you sure it’s him?”_ His voice was particularly echoey this time, the high-pitched whine following. Clu’s description of having his head under water wasn’t quite like what Flynn was experiencing. 

He pushed past the ache resulting from the communication, “Yes. He’s trapped behind a boulder between open space. I’m guessing he’s staying there so that our _friends_ don’t try and make some small talk.” He added as he saw the two small green objects on the horizon. Tanks. 

_“That’s good- Yes, Ram- Tron’s alive, I’ll tell you in a nano- And what about you?”_

“What about me?”

Clu let out a long sigh, _“You said you got knocked out. Are you alright?”_

Flynn glanced at his wound. It really wasn’t that bad. Really it wasn’t. There were worse things that he could experience. 

“I’m fine as I can be at the moment.” 

_“Sir…”_ There was doubt in the hacker’s voice, before there was a pause in which Flynn pictured that he shook his head, _“Alright, we’ll go with that for now. You should probably stay where you are. Ram and I will get some help Tron.”_

“Right. Right that’s. Probably for the best…” He pressed on the bandage, putting some pressure on it. Could he rezz in another tunic and use that as a bandage? That could help. Flynn leaned back on the rubble, once again resuming his position of staring at the sky. It was Extremely Uncomfortable. 

“Do I just. Like. Hang up now?” 

_“Yes. That would be helpful.”_

“And how exactly do I…”

_“Hm. I don't really know, sir. Usually you would just. Leave.”_

Flynn frowned before an idea struck him. He pulled up a mental picture of docking the handset of a phone back into the base- the satisfying click and all. 

“You still there?” Flynn was careful not to mention his name.

When only silence responded, Flynn closed his eyes. It made it easier to pretend his blood was still red and the fact that he was bleeding out in the first place wasn’t that Big of a Deal.

And maybe it wasn’t that Big of a Deal. Really. It couldn’t be. Everything was Fine. Not a Big Deal. Not a Problem. And If he just stayed here with his eyes closed and let himself fade from the world around him, maybe that would be true. 

* * *

“See, they’re both alive!” 

“For the moment.” 

“ _Clu._ ” Ram tried to be scolding but his joy at hearing the news was far too big for it to be anything but a slight gentle tease. 

“I think we’re coming up to the end of the canyon.” Clu’s eyes flickered as he internally checked the information. 

“Right. We’re gonna need to distract those programs if we want to give Tron a chance to dash.”

“The question, of course. Is How.” 

Ram swung Clu’s hand back and forth. Despite the impromptu conversation with Flynn, their hands had been stuck together the entire time. 

Clu’s circuits were now a brighter blazing...green. They were still green. 

“Wait a nano!” Ram went to snap his fingers before shaking his head as he only jerked the other’s hand around wildly, “Green circuits!” 

“They are still green, yes.” 

“ _Exactly_. And what color circuits are tank drivers?” 

“...The same color as their tanks, just like lightcycles.” Then he squinted and glanced at Ram, “Well, most of the time.” 

Ram smiled mischievously. 

The other program blinked, “Are you saying...what I think you’re saying…?” 

“If by which you mean I’m saying we go up to them by tricking them with green circuits, then yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” 

Clu glanced at his circuits again, taking a long moment to think about what Ram had said, “It sounds good in theory but how are you going to change _your_ circuits?”

He furrowed his eyebrows, “What do you mean?”

“The ENCOM system has color-locked circuits due to function,” He paused, “Or. Alliance- You have to have special permissions to do it.” 

“That’s.” Ram paused, “That’s really stupid.” 

“I could try to do it myself.” He looked down to the end of the canyon. 

“No, you shouldn’t, not when you’re based in melee combat…” 

Ram sighed, and then considered the matter that Clu had brought up. Surely it couldn’t be _that_ hard to change circuit colors. He started rummaging through his own code. He’d never had to change his colors before but he could try. 

“Couldn’t you just hack it? The color thing?” He asked while he shifted through his code. 

Clu glanced away, and Ram thought he saw a touch of pink coloring his circuits underneath the blue dust- “Ah, well. I’m not perfect. And I certainly don’t claim to be in any circumstance.” 

“I’ll keep that in mind-” Ram cut himself off as he accessed something in his code. Now- If he just. Switched it- Maybe he could- 

His circuits shifted almost instantly, and he couldn’t help the way his mouth fell open as he was suddenly an emerald green. 

“What.” Clu said flatly. 

“I don’t know! I just kinda. Did it.” Ram let out a little snicker. He felt tickled. 

“You- Just did it- ? How…?” Clu shook his head, closing his eyes and opening them again as if that would make the circuit color change back. 

“I’m serious, I don’t know! It wasn’t difficult at all.” 

The hacker was silent for a moment, processing the information. 

“Ram. I’m curious. Have you gotten any updates- Been to an I/O tower recently?” 

Ram deflated, “Not even once since I’ve been rerezzed, unfortunately.” 

“Right. And do you know what a backdoor update is?” 

“Backdoor? No, I don’t.” Ram spun his disk, admiring the way the green sparkled. It wasn’t a bad look. 

“Well. You know _I_ never have been to an I/O tower, right?” 

“Yeah? What are you trying to say?” Ram was confused.

Clu paused, contemplating what he was about to say, “I- I think we should table this discussion,” He gestured with his staff towards the exit, “We need to get going. Flynn and Tron both need our help.” 

Ram rolled his eyes at the deflection, “Alright.” 

* * *

Trying not to stare at the blood was hard. Ridiculously so. It was still purple. The fact that it was coming out of his body? Ridiculous. His blood was _purple_. 

He exhaled a sharp breath through his nose. Flynn was very aware he was verging on delirious but at the same time, the longer he’d been awake the sharper the pain had gotten, dragging him more and more into a proper state of mind, ironically. 

The blood had seeped through his make-shift bandage far too quickly. His wound must’ve been worse than he thought, because this was not a normal amount of blood to lose. Then again. It wasn’t the normal color of blood either, so what the hell did he know? 

“Purple...Purple. Energy. Right?” He muttered to himself, “If it’s part energy. Then. Then I can manipulate it, right? User Powers and all that shit.” 

He ripped the bandage off, stiff from the dried blood, with a small cry of pain. The wound wasn’t looking any better underneath it. 

“Alright. Let’s try this.” He took a deep breath and lightly pressed his fingers against where it started at his collarbone. He closed his eyes. It was all about transferal energy. That’s all it was. 

At first, nothing happened as he focused. And then a burning sensation started to spread through his skin. He clenched his jaw. 

Eventually he drew his hand away with a hiss, unable to stand the sensation anymore. 

Flynn opened his eyes hesitantly, eyes taking their sweet time landing upon the spot where he’d tried to heal himself. 

“Huh.”

It wasn’t completely healed, no. The wound was however, sealed up more than it had been in the spots where his fingers had touched it. It looked clumsy. But it had stopped the bleeding. Like some sort of energy based cauterization. 

“I guess Yori was right about needing to practice more.” He whispered to himself, staring at his hand which was stained purple. Then he snorted, “Who am I kidding. It’s Yori, of course she’s right.”

Flynn then narrowed his eyes. He had quite a bit of ground to cover with this wound. 

“Awright.” He said before resuming this odd process. 

* * *

“Ok. The best kind of lies are the ones closest to the truth. If you play your cards right, you can even tell someone you’re a hacker to their face.” 

“I’ve never played cards.” 

Ram contained a smile as Clu stopped walking. 

“Me either.” He admitted, “We should try when we get…” Clu stumbled over the words, and then quietly said, “ _Home._ ” 

“I’ll hold you to that.” Ram squeezed his hand, sending a wave of positive emotions to him. 

Clu raised his eyebrows, “Speaking of.” He looked to their hands, disappointment coloring his tone, “We should probably. Stop.” 

“Ah. Right.” Ram slid his hand from his reluctantly, flexing the fingers a few times as the warmth left them, “Anyway- heh, Why am I going first to talk to whoever is with the tanks?” 

“Your color is more accurate. Mine is starting to come off in a few places,” He gestured to the places where’d he’d moved the most often- his hands, knees, etc, “And right when I didn’t need it to.” 

“Ok. Right. That makes sense.”

They both looked to the tanks in the far off distance. A couple hundred meters and they’d be there. They both looked at each other and nodded. 

* * *

Tron shifted as he spotted something out of the corner of his eyes. He clutched his disk harder as he narrowed his eyes, trying to spot what the movement was...Two programs, it looked like- Two programs with blue lightsuits and green circuits and- 

“Wait a nano-” Tron said aloud in his shock, “Is that-” 

The two programs were walking quickly, heading towards the tanks, presumably. The longer he looked the more familiar they seemed- and the way they walked? He’d seen it before.

“Ram and Clu?” He blinked, “What. Are they doing???” 

The fact they were able to move without cover without getting blasted to bits was surprising- Then again- Somehow. Their circuits were _green_. So, surely, they were planning something. They were always planning something. The Reds weren’t going to know what hit them with these two. 

Tron allowed himself a small grin.

* * *

Clu found himself a few paces behind Ram as they came up close to the tanks. He kept both hands clasped behind his back to keep his baton there for a quick draw. Ram, ahead of him, had docked his disk, of course; having it out when you were supposed to be an ally was silly. 

He was on edge- there was one visible program outside a tank, leaning against it looking Very Bored. Which meant it could work in their favor or very much not do that. Bored- interrupted by something New- that meant the program would immediately go more alert to distract from the feeling. Clu had no doubt in Ram, of course, but...Ram wasn’t a hacker- He’d never- 

Well...he _wasn’t_...but now...the changing circuit colors? No. That was a thought for another microcycle, better to pin it away to examine later. 

“Greetings Program!” Ram called out cheerfully. The very tone of his voice sent warm feelings through Clu’s code- how on earth he could manage to have such _hope_ was. Astounding. 

The military program jumped up, their circuits flashing in surprising. They were around Ram’s height- even a little bit shorter, and rather stocky, curves softening their body. They looked rather huggable, actually. Clu shook his head, the thought had popped up unwarranted and wasn’t appropriate for the situation at all.

“Heya!” They called back, “You guys are. Uh. Late to the party, aren’t ‘cha? Did the Reds call in some more stragglers?” 

Calling the MCP loyalists _Reds_? That wasn’t something that programs did if they served the MCP. The two of them made eye contact, before Ram replied, “Yes, they did actually- We are late I guess. I’m Ram, by the way and this is-” 

“Codified,” Clu jumped in, well aware that his name would probably be a little infamous, “I’m Codified.” 

Ram shot him a look, a spark of a question in his eyes. Clu shrugged only slightly, hoping it was subtle enough that it wouldn’t be noticed by the military program. 

“I’m Newlyn!” Newlyn introduced themself, green circuits flashing with pride, “You guys must’ve been from another squad from me- I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two.” 

“Oh, Codified was always out and about in the system doing whatever in his tank and I just got dragged along, practically. So that’s probably why.” 

Clu smiled- it was a nice exaggeration. A touch of truth really did make it a wonderful lie. A slice of his nervousness melted away. 

“ _Dragged_ is a bit of a strong word don’t you think?” Clu drawled back. 

“Ha! Alright it might be a little strong.” 

Newlyn laughed right along with Ram, clearly amused by their banter. 

“I bet you two had great times- I, unfortunately, had to work closely with the- ugh- Reds, I would’ve given anything for an assignment farther away from the MCP goons.” Newlyn huffed, annoyance lacing their tone. 

“Speaking of the Reds- They didn’t exactly give us a _why_ about why we needed to be here. I mean our tank was- Not really in the best shape so we just walked over here- I know it has something to do with _that_ security program-” 

“And the User! Don’t forget the User.” They said with a finger raised in the air, “Well. I didn’t really see _why_ we had to do this. I mean the MCP is gone…” 

“Then why did you agree to do this?” Their tone was genuinely curious. Innocent. It was surprising especially for what their entire purpose was. 

“We didn’t exactly-” 

Clu cut in, “We were more so hoping to check it out first. We were surprised to learn that there were any loyalists left to begin with.”

Newlyn laughed, though it was more pained than anything, “Yeah. I was hoping I’d be done with this since the MCP is gone.” 

“Then why are you doing this?” Clu asked, confused. 

“Because it’s in my programming. That’s how it’s how it is.” 

Clu clenched the baton behind his back a little tighter. It wasn’t always that way. The tank programs weren’t originally programmed for this at all. Besides, the MCP wasn’t even a _User_ ; there was no obligation to even follow it.

“Does it have to be that way though?” He retorted. 

“Codified.” Ram shot him a warning look, “Don’t press them.” 

“Apologies.” Clu said with a slight nod. He started making his way towards them, making sure to put a more thoughtful look on his face. 

“Oh don’t worry about it.” They replied, “It’s not a big deal, not really.” 

The conversation paused for a moment before Ram slid back in with, “How many other programs besides the Reds are here anyway?”

“Four, including me. Though it doesn’t really matter- Those tanks that the Reds managed to salvage are busted- Wanted us to waste all the energy of the things on firing when they were already low. Listen to the actual programs who know what they’re doing? _Noooo_. Well…” They shook their head. 

“Oh, I hate when that happens, and how many Reds did you say there were again?” 

Clu raised his eyebrows. Ram was good at this. 

“Six.” They blinked, “Wait a nano- You never asked that- And why wouldn’t you-” They slumped to the ground in an instant as the staff cracked their head.

Clu stared down at them blankly. 

“ _Clu._ ”

He looked back up at Ram who was staring at him incredulously. He shrugged back. 

“Don’t you think that was a bit too soon?”

“I didn’t derez them.” 

“Well, I see that but-” 

“We’ll derez the Reds, but the tank programs seem fine.” 

Ram raised his eyebrows, looking from him to Newlyn and back again, “Alright, Derez the Reds- Say that five times fast, eh?” He undocked his disk with a flourish, spinning it wildly, “Let’s see if we can get to it.”

Clu attempted to twirl his staff in his hands before fumbling it and dropping it as his arms and hands twisted awkwardly. 

“We’ll need to work on that.” Ram said with a slight laugh. 

He picked it up from the ground and shook his head. 

* * *

The sound disks made when thrown was distinct. The sound of _multiple disks_ being thrown? That was even more so. 

Tron found himself standing before the sound properly registered as it happened. It was far away; by the tanks no doubt. 

It was a perfect opportunity for him to make his move, already shifting into a run, disk in hand- it was all automatic at this point, less conscious thought and more so just. Natural. ( _yes, he was a security program, but before the Games…?_ ) 

His strides were quick, his long legs allowing him to shave off the precious commodity that is time. Each step brought him closer to the source of chaos. 

Time seemed to slow as something in the distance made its way closer to him. Green. Flat. _Disk._

He side-stepped out of the way as the disk flew past him before it made a sweeping arc back in the direction of the tanks. 

He cursed to himself in his head as he ran closer and closer to them. 

He came up right up close to the tanks, a green-circuited program right in front of him- he readied his disk only for- 

The program in front of him fell to the ground. Behind where the program once stood was Clu, staff brandished in hand.

“Don’t derez the Greens- Only the Reds.” Clu ordered. 

Tron bit back a retort; despite how much he wanted to. He was the one coming into this situation with less information. 

“Actually-” Clu raised an eyebrow at the fallen program, “I think that might’ve been the last Green- There’s five Reds- I think Ram only got one of them-” 

Tron pushed past Clu into a run, throwing himself into the fray- going to the space between the tanks. Along the way he took out a Red right in front of him, his disk never even leaving his hand- only swiping the program while he ran. Four to Go. 

Ram was there in front of the other tank, blocking with his disk. Upon spotting Tron out of the corner of his eyes, he sent a smile before sending his disk flying towards the security program. 

Tron blocked Ram’s disk, sending it flying straight into the unsuspecting Red to his left. Three to Go. 

“Nice of you to join us, my friend!” Ram called out as he caught his disk. 

“Oh- I’d never miss this.” Tron replied, blocking a flying disk with ease. 

Clu ran in between them, shifting into a roll to avoid the storm of flying disks before bouncing out of it and striking a Red with several deliberate strikes. The Red fell and his disk rolled away before Clu slammed his staff on it. Two to Go. 

Ram dodged as one of the remaining Reds sent a disk flying towards him, the disk bouncing off the tank towards Tron. He stepped to the side, but the disk nicked him on his shoulder. Tron sent his disk flying towards the Red with a throw fueled by frustration. The satisfaction he felt as they derezzed was far more enjoyable than it probably should’ve been. One to Go. 

The remaining Red seemed to get the idea that he was not going to win this situation as the three of them started to walk towards him. 

Clu held out his staff, pointing at the Red, eyes narrowed. Tron raised an eyebrow at him, and the hacker replied with a silent shrug. 

Tron then stepped up to the Red, getting in his personal bubble. 

“...How many more of you are left.” He demanded. 

“Too many for one security monitor to handle- We won’t let the death of the MCP go unchecked, _Tron_.” The loyalist spat,despite the fact he was shaking. 

Tron grinned, an almost cruel glint in his eyes, “Ah yes, but you won’t be dealing with just a security monitor.” 

Then he turned back to his two companions, “Should we make his deresolution quick? The possibility of sending him back to wherever he came from is also an option. Give them a _warning_. Though. I’m sure you already know which option I prefer.” 

“I believe if Flynn were here, he would say something like, ‘That’s Terrifying, thanks’.” Ram grinned. 

“If you want something more terrifying we could strip him of his disk and leave him to wander as a stray…” Clu murmured under his breath. 

The Red let out a whine. Clu rolled his eyes and whacked him with the staff, knocking him out cold. 

“You do that so casually.” Ram noted.

“Thank you.” Clu replied. 

“Are you two done?” Tron teased, his shoulders finally untensing with the last Red down. Clu and Ram both looked to him, their circuits flashing. The Green was weird. Really Weird, “By the way… ‘nice’ circuits.” 

Ram laughed lightly at the comment, “Yeah- they don’t look too bad do they?” 

“They’re certainly...something.” Tron said. 

“You can change your’s back now, Ram.” Clu said, stubbornly looking down at the ground. 

“Ah, I’ll keep them this way so we can match until you get a chance to get to a fresher. Matching, y’know?” The actuary wiggled his fingers at the hacker, who simply rolled his eyes in return with a small smile on his face. 

Then they fell silent, looking back at the fallen Red. 

“So?” Ram looked to Tron, deferring to his judgement. 

Tron squared his shoulders. Letting the Red go. Was a viable option. It could help him find leads to the rest of the left-over loyalists. But...Surely the death of all the Reds here would send a message to them as well. Making up his mind, he sent his disk towards the red- the warping sounds of a program derezzing left traces of happiness in his fingertips.

“Well. That’s that.” Tron huffed. 

“For the moment at least.” Clu agreed. 

“We should start heading back- Have either of you seen Flynn?” 

Ram and Clu made eye contact at the question. 

“Not ‘seen’, no.” 

Tron frowned at the statement from Clu. 

* * *

The walk back to the rubble to where Flynn presumably one seemed to go a lot quicker than the walk Ram and Clu had taken to get to the tanks. It was probably because Tron was here, and Users-delete-it if he could stop power walking. And the walk was also less satisfying; there was no hand holding this time. 

Once again, Ram found himself jogging for a few paces to keep up with the other two; Clu was able to match Tron’s speed for the most part, keeping a steady distance between the two of them to not let the actuary fall too far behind. 

“Impressive.” Clu murmured aloud as they came up to the pile of rubble. 

“It’s just rocks.” The security monitor threw him a look.

“Yes, but it’s a _lot_ of rocks, Tron.” He replied blithely. 

Ram snorted under his breath at the conversation, making his way to start climbing up the pile. It was mostly firm, but every so often rocks would shift under his feet, panic seizing him for a moment. Eventually, they got to the top only to see- 

“Flynn!” He called out on reflex. 

The User was sitting criss-cross-applesauce, his head resting on a hand propped up on one of his knees. And he was. Slightly off looking. There was...odd purple smears and smudges covering a good portion of _all_ of him. His tunic seemed oddly _new_ as if freshly rerezzed. If Ram had to guess, it probably was freshly rezzed in. 

Flynn looked up, his eyes sparkling- but not quite how they were supposed to. Something was off about them. 

“You guys!” He pushed himself off the ground, wincing with the movement, “I was- So worried- But- Yeah! You guys are fine!” His eyes flickered over them all, taking in what they looked like. 

“Well. Sorta. I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to be green…” He turned to Tron, “Oh, and you got hurt too!” He pointed to the small wound on Tron’s shoulder. 

“ _Too??_ ” Clu gaped, “What do you mean too???” 

“Ah. Well,” Flynn looked down at himself, specifically at one of the larger splotches of purple, “Do you know what blood is?” 

Ram and Tron both echoed ‘no’s. 

“Well I know it’s supposed to be _red,_ sir!” Clu frowned, “So that can’t-”

“It is. Believe me, I checked. And by that I mean it was literally spilling out of my body. It’s fine now. I kinda uh, sealed it. Sorta. Not really.” 

The three programs all exchanged varying looks of incredulity. Flynn only smiled wider. 

“C’mon guys, It’s not _that_ bad,” He paused, “Well, maybe it is, but hey! At least I figured out how to rez-in clothes and stuff.” 

“He’s delirious.” Tron decided. 

“Undoubtedly.” Clu frowned. 

“Ah, _c’mon Tron._ ” Flynn walked over to him and slung his arm around the security program’s shoulders, “I’m not- Not- Really- heh, I don’t think so.” 

Ram hid a laugh behind a cough. 

“Flynn, please-” Tron shook his head, turning his attention to the programs, “We can’t- We can’t let him go back to the Users’ world like this.”

“We should at least wait until he’s not uh.” Ram gestured, not sure how to even continue with his sentence. Flynn’s almost-drunk-like grin was not helping in the slightest. 

“Awww, I swear I’m fine, I’m fine, fine- fine. Just. Dandy. Ha! Dandy.” Flynn patted Tron roughly on the back. 

The security program was surprised at the motion, and stumbled forward, his helmet sliding off with the gravity of the motion. It landed and rolled away. There was utter silence in the air. 

And then Flynn made a squeaky sounding laugh, “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my _god-_ ” 

Clu put a hand to his mouth and looked away, uselessly trying to prevent himself from laughing, his shoulders shaking. Ram could only breathlessly smile. 

“What are you- What are you all laughing about I don’t-” Tron glanced around at them all wildly before a lock of hair fell in front of his eyes. 

“What.” He picked at it, bring more hair in front of his eyes, “ _What._ ” 

Tron, legendary system monitor, stoic warrior and paladin, had hair. That was now. Blue. Bright neon blue that made you squint your eyes. 

“It looks- HA- It looks really good on you, man.” Flynn’s eyes sparkled in a more correct-way now. A more proper Flynn-way. 

“What is _this??_ ” The monitor asked disbelieving. 

“Well, Tron.” Ram started slowly, “My dear, _old friend_. I might’ve been...trying something.” 

“You were trying something..?” Tron’s gaze slid from him to Clu, “Right- your- hacking lessons- you-” He turned back to Ram, “ _You hacked my render!?_ ” 

“Uh, yeah. It was pretty easy- you were distracted by our game of _Disk Wars_. All I had to do was just tap your head, and well.” 

“It’s actually really pretty.” Flynn murmured, “Wonder If I could get Alan…” He trailed off, lost in his thoughts. 

“I’m- How do I change it back!?” 

“You don’t know?” Clu asked with an uncharacteristic giggle of his own. 

“I’ve never had to change it in the past!” Tron crossed his arms dramatically. 

“You should keep it until Yori can see it.” Ram suggested.

“Wha-” 

“I think she’ll like it.” Flynn agreed. 

Tron spluttered. 

Ram smiled. Maybe this microcycle had ended on a good note despite the whole. Crashing and Fighting Reds thing. 

* * *

“We can’t just let him _stay_ in _there_ , Lora.” Alan gestured to the monitor with a forceful hand. 

“I don’t know what you want me to do- Apparently he’s hurt. And sweetheart, I really don’t know what will happen if we bring him out if he is.” She was putting on her jacket, ready to start going home. Alan frowned. 

“Let me try and talk to him one more time and see if I can convince him.” 

Lora raised an eyebrow, “You can certainly try- I’m gonna go gather my stuff from my office in the meantime.” 

She pressed a kiss to his temple as she made her way out of the fortress that housed the Laser. He managed an exasperated smile as he sat down at the monitor himself. 

Flynn had gotten hurt, because of course he had, and sent them a...questionable message about how he was staying in there until further notice. That didn’t sit right with Alan. 

His fingers hovered over the keyboard before he typed in a quick message. 

‘ _K. Flynn, this is Alan_One...I’m still not sure this is a good idea._ ’ It’d been agreed upon that they’d use their Usernames upon talking with each other when Flynn was in the system.

There was a pause before a new message flickered unto the screen, ‘ _Alan_One. This...is...Tron...I’ve never...communicated using...this...forgive me...if I’m...doing it...wrong.’_

Alan blinked. Tron had never- Never used any ‘I’ type language. Sure, some programmers wrote it that way for kicks but this- If Tron was using the system Flynn had designed for direct contact between them…

‘ _Hello Tron.’_ Alan typed back, _‘Don’t worry about it, you’re coming through loud and clear.’_

_‘Alan_One. I. Understand...your concern...about Flynn...but he needs...rest...before he can...come...home.’_

Alan frowned. 

Tron’s message continued, ‘ _I need...to get...back...to them...Please. Trust Me. Alan_One.’_

Alan was hesitant, possible responses rolling around in his mind like marbles, ‘ _Alright Tron. I trust you.’_

‘ _Thank you, Alan_One._ ’ 

Alan sat back as the text showing that Flynn- or Tron in this case- had logged off popped up. 

“Huh...stranger and stranger.” He murmured, his heart pounding in his ears. 

* * *

Tron made his way back into HQ. He’d talked to Alan_One...and his User had responded. But it hadn’t been in an I/O tower. Not really. Well, it had been the terminal in the rez-in tower that Flynn used so, maybe it was a little but still. It was odd. 

He wasn’t sure what to feel. The words ‘I trust you, Tron’ kept replaying over and over in his mind. It was. Thrilling. 

He stepped into the main room of HQ, coming with face to face with quite a sight. Flynn stuck in the middle of a cuddle pile, with Clu right next to him, Ram laying on top of Clu’s legs and Yori poking and prodding at Flynn’s wound experimentally. 

Tron shook his head, and then made his way over there.

“I’m glad you’re all comfortable. But can you _please change my hair back now?_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> AAAAAAAH ALL MY THOUGHTS ARE GONE BUT HEY. WOOOO IT BE DONE. I might update this notes again idk,, who knows!!! I don't!! i'll probably edit this more later but for now uhhh here it is. im really excited i got this done!! whooo!!


End file.
